This blog on Texas education contains posts on accountability, testing, college readiness, dropouts, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, race, class, and gender issues with additional focus at the national level.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

‘Mr. President, public education in the U.S. is on the wrong track’

‘Mr. President, public education in the U.S. is on the wrong track’

This is the text of an open letter written to President Obama by Mary Broderick, president of the Arlington, Va.,-based National School Boards Association,
a
not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school
boards and their member districts. The letter, sent earlier this month
to the president, asks for a national dialogue about the direction of
public education reform.
Here’s the text of the letter:

The night of your election, in Grant Park, you said, “I will listen
to you especially when we disagree.” We are all committed to the best
educational future for the children of America. Yet, as the nation
prepares for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA), school board members and top educational thinkers
overwhelming urge abandoning the current “command-and-control” federal
educational oversight. America’s treasure lies in unleashing the
creativity of our youth. Though well-intentioned, the current federal direction is ignoring and working against much
of what we know about student motivation and achievement. Instead, the
federal government should support local efforts to ignite curiosity,
creative potential, and a drive for excellence among students and staff.

Throughout my presidency of the National School Boards Association, I
have travelled to many states and written for our national journal and
asked for input to this letter. School board members and educators
across the country have contributed their thinking here. We share your
sense of urgency: We must give every child, no matter their
circumstances, the opportunity to excel. We must ensure high quality
experiences so each child develops fully. Our major disagreement comes
from how we go about this task.

We want for each American child the same things that
you and Michelle want for Sasha and Malia — inspiration, aspiration,
creativity. I know you don’t want an overemphasis on testing. I have
heard you say it. Experience in schools and communities, supported by
research, tells us that relentlessly focusing on standardized tests
erodes our national competitiveness and deadens curiosity and drive.
Clearly, we need some testing to gauge student learning, and we have no
problem with appropriate accountability. But we have swung to a far extreme that
is significantly hurting children. “Students are numbing over testing
for testing’s sake…. We can’t test this country into excellence.” (Sonny
Savoie, LA)

Other countries that traditionally focus on testing recognize the
shortcomings of their systems and come to our shores to learn how we
inspire a spirit of innovation. And decades of work by motivation
theorists, such as Daniel Pink, help us understand why a focus on
testing and standards may not cultivate the learners we want. Others
have found that such narrow focus restricts our views of what is
possible, and even causes unethical behavior, such as the rash of
testing scandals here and abroad.
By contrast, Finnish schools are
now “exemplars of many of the success indicators we … want to see in
American schools. Achievement is consistently high. Students are
self-motivated and engaged in their learning. Schools have wide latitude
to decide on their own programs, and there are no intrusive sanctions.”
(Jill Wynns, CA)

The focus on strict quantitative accountability has never worked for any organization, and it has not worked with No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
Teachers are trying to meet the mandates of those programs and
consequently “our children suffer and are not getting educated to their
individual potential.” (Carolyne Brooks, IL) Teachers’ focus on tests is
undermining their potential and initiative, making it more difficult to
share a love of learning with their students.

Our students will never be first in the world on standardized tests.
We never have come close. Nor is that something toward which we should
aspire! We simply are not a compliant people willing to absorb facts
without challenge. But we have had the most innovative workforce in the
world (and now vie with Finland for that
top position). Though intended to encourage equity, our current policy
is, in fact, driving us toward mediocrity. Our students may be becoming
better regurgitators, but what we need is excellent thinkers.

We have significant challenges in many of our communities, especially
those that are underserved, yet we continue to boast some of the best
schools in the world. We have models of excellence from which we should
all be learning. Our vision should be to empower excellence — to draw
out the best in each and every individual in our schools. We should
recognize that our children’s brains are our most important resource. We
should aspire to having children take responsibility for their own
learning. We can have a common curriculum as a guide, but leave it to
our local “civic labs,” as Thomas Jefferson envisioned them, to find
optimal ways to inspire learning.

That said, we won’t achieve any vision without significant teamwork.
Finland’s process may offer a model: They spent years developing
national consensus about the essentials for successful education and,
hence, the nation. Collaboration can promote independent thinking and
action.

As a nation, rather than inspiring people toward a vision of
excellence, we have been blaming some for blocking student achievement.
It is time to inspire all toward a pursuit of excellence for each of our
children.

The work world our children inherit will be significantly different
from the one we have known. Jobs in the 20th century were mostly
algorithmic or routine. According to McKinsey & Co., most such jobs
have already evaporated because of automation and outsourcing. Future
work will be more complex, so we had better prepare students differently
than through standardized tests.

As the nature of work changes, so too must motivators. Carrots and
sticks, which worked with routine jobs, actually impede efforts when the
work is more complex, Daniel Pink says.
Instead, the rewards of learning and challenges of the work itself must
now be the primary motivators. Adults learn best, experts say, if they
feel competent, autonomous, and a sense of belonging.

Much in our current school systems works against these, and our new
national focus on teacher evaluation will continue that trend. As a
result of ignoring innate needs, our schools too often are not
innovative hubs. Yet to meet the challenges of our future, we must
cultivate a spirit of innovation and inspiration. We will only succeed
in preparing for our future if we empower all in our schools to think
through complex problems and processes and generate solutions. Rather
than laboring over bureaucratic compliance problems, let’s engage
students and teachers (even board members!) in solving problems of
teaching and learning.

Our schools will never become great through threat or intimidation.
Schools must be safe places to take risks, where staff members and
students feel valued for their ideas and talents and empowered to fail
so that they can grow. Students will learn what they see, experience,
and enjoy.

We have the knowledge and experience to do this at the national,
state, and local levels. However, the present narrow focus on
accountability and trend of demonizing those in public education,
arrogantly focusing on “failing schools,” is diametrically opposed to
fostering excellence.

Again, we can learn from Finland: It holds teachers in high regard
(appealing to competence). Teacher training includes a strong feedback
loop; professional development is embedded in the work, through coaching
and ongoing support (appealing to belonging). People are willing to try
new approaches and ideas (appealing to autonomy).

Innovation requires investment. Retired school superintendent Jack
Reynolds noted that under the original ESEA we had a national system for
identifying, supporting, and sharing excellent, vetted educational
ideas. We should return to such a system of research, development, and
diffusion, using technology to share teaching and learning approaches.
Further, Ohio school board member Charlie Wilson suggested we encourage
and fund our universities to conduct empirical research on the
considerable experimentation that does occur in our schools.

Some board members suggested that we benefit from broad, guiding
curriculum principles. Wyoming’s David Fall encouraged you to continue
your work with the National Governors’ Association to refine core
standards. However, our children would be best served if the standards
were guides, but decision-making remained local.

Across the nation, I have heard growing support for an emphasis on
the early years. To close achievement gaps, we need to provide rich
early learning environments for children born with the least. We need to
teach their parents how to encourage their learning. Please continue to
support states’ early childhood efforts.

Mr. President, public education in the U.S. is on the wrong track. As
we have moved decision-making farther from teachers and children, we
have jeopardized our competitive edge and keys to our national success:
our ingenuity, our openness to innovation, and our creativity.

I urge you to convene a national dialogue, not made up of
politicians, but including the breadth of educational opinion, to
reconsider our educational direction. I would love to help you do this.
Let’s ensure that each child has the tools to be successful. Let’s
marshal the nation’s brain power and tap into the research, proven
practice, and demonstrated evidence of excellence.

Please bring your parent hat to determining our new direction for
public education. Your daughters, like all of our children and all of
our teachers, don’t need more tests designed to identify weaknesses.
They need excited, motivated, passionate teachers who feel challenged,
supported, and encouraged to try new approaches, who share with their
students a learning environment that is limitless. If we work
collaboratively on a shared vision of excellence, if we foster team
development, encourage innovation, and care for the growth of our
teachers, our children will lead us into the future with confidence. And
public education will remain the cornerstone of our vibrant democracy.